What would we do without 'em tags?

So, since I am stuck with one foot on a stool, the one thing I do have plenty of at the moment is time. I just realised yesterday that I have been tagged by the increasingly popular Smugbug, so I'm going to give this a shot. Smugster, thanks for the opportunity. Haven't read my own archives - well, ever!!!

The rules of the tag are: Post 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 key words given (family, friend, yourself, your love, anything you like). Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better.

Here goes....

1. Family: I searched and searched and realized that I just about have the bare minimum number of posts required to be able to tag anything in this category, i.,e, one. This post from three years ago where I wish my sister a happy birthday is the best bet. I also realised as I read it that my sentiments are exactly the same now. The girl is off on a trip with her friends at the moment. We really need to do one of those together.

2. Friend: I suck at this. The fact that I hardly have any posts on my family and my friends must indicate that I am a pretty closed personality, no? Tcheh! And all this time I thought I was not!!! Anyway, this post about a friend's wedding two years ago is suitable, speaking of which I realised that said friend now has a baby! How time flies.

3. Yourself: Most blogs are about their owners, I suppose. I am no different. Just that the realisation that I am an egoistic blogger is not very comforting! Anyway, this post from two years ago that has 25 points about me or my thoughts that I wrote on my birthday, is the best contender in this category, and since I let my birthday go unnoticed this year on my blog, I'm going to take this opportunity to add to that list with two more points, so that the total is right for this year.

-------26. Marriage is both wonderfully difficult and wondrously delightful.
-------27. They say that by age 30, people should get their act together. I am nowhere close!

4. Your love: Hmmmmmm. I obviously haven't written much about THE love of my life, as some of you should have deduced by now, given my earlier declaration of being a closed personality-type. But this post about my love for rainy days, and then the bit in the end, make this a good piece to call up here.

5. Anything you like: This song. Still.

People to tag. Let. Me. See. I don't know how many of you will respond, but give it a try, OK, folks - please? It may even be fun! Penny Lane, The Restless Quill, Kaleidoglide, Graphic Designer Nerd, Emmanuel.

Media Consumption Meme

I figured this would be an interesting exercise to do – taken from Jinal via Anastasia at YPulse. I am not highly tech-savvy at all, but here goes anyway:

Web: Plenty, plenty of websites, especially now that I have some time on my hands. I usually go to NYT, The Guardian, Salon, Slate, Rediff, BBC and NDTV for current affairs and generally interesting articles. The NYT Arts, Style and Travel sections have some good stuff going as well. For a list of events that are currently happening in the city, I check out Flavorpill. The blogs I usually read are linked to in my own blog.

Communication: Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail (yes I still use it, inspite of V’s repeated digs at me that I am probably one of ten people still using it!!) and to a smaller extent Gmail. I got a Gmail account when they were handing them out free and everyone’s opinion, since Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail had limited mailbox sizes then, was ‘You really should get a Gmail account, you know’. So I did, but then Yahoo and Hotmail woke up and that leaves my Gmail inbox quite empty now, mostly! I use Gtalk more than MSN Messenger or Yahoo Messenger though, funnily enough. I used to like Orkut, but I don’t anymore, though I still have an account. I find it a bit too intrusive, though it also helps re-discovering people you knew years ago (if you want to re-discover them in the first place, that is!!). I’m not on Facebook, mySpace, linkedin, Hi5 or any of the 100 other networking sites that exist – one exhausts me enough.

Music: I belong to the Stone Age, my friends, I admit. I do NOT own an iPod (for Heaven’s sake don’t shriek in shock so loudly, people!!). I rely on the good old ancient radio, and the computer as well – I just listen online. Viva Radio and 106.7 Lite FM are my current favorites. I don’t have a CD system at home yet, so I don’t listen to too many CD’s at the moment either. I used to, when I was in India.

TV: My saviour, LOL. I watch just about anything that can hold my interest for longer than 5 minutes, or else pique it. Of course, I always go back to the millionth re-run of Friends, Sex and the City, Everybody Loves Raymond, Home Improvement, Will and Grace or Full House. V likes Seinfeld and though I didn’t think it was THAT entertaining earlier, I think it’s pretty funny now. I also like Grey’s Anatomy and ER, and thanks to V again, House MD. I used to watch Desperate Housewives, but have lost interest now. That could also be because I’m not sure when it comes on in the US, so if anyone knows, shout out – thanks. I like watching cookery shows on occasion, and if I’m extremely jobless, What Not to Wear on Style. Yeah, that’s right.

Movies: Anyone who’s been reading my blog lately knows that I’ve been overdosing on them, so of course I love movies. I’m not going to repeat the names of the last few movies I watched - please scroll down to my last couple of blog entries and that should fill you in.

Magazines: The web pretty much covers most of it, but when I get my hands on Outlook, India Today, Femina, Cosmopolitan, Glamour and The Economist, I like reading the hard copies as well.

Books: I recently read Freakonomics (Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner), Passion India (Javier Moro) and Shalimar The Clown (Salman Rushdie), and am now devouring Orhan Pamuk’s The Black Book. I’d also like to read Snow and My Name is Red by Pamuk, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Capote), On Beauty (Zadie Smith), Sacred Games (Vikram Chandra), and Lord of the Flies (William Golding), soon. I went into the Strand the other day and can’t wait to go back to buy some of them. If anyone hasn’t read Gregory David Roberts’ Shantaram, that’s high on my list of all-time favorites.

Newspapers: In India, I used to read The Hindu and The Indian Express, and FT occasionally. For a good laugh and some entertainment, there was always The Times of India. Here, the NYT sometimes, but seriously I think in America the printed word is a slave to the internet. Check out what the Freakonomics blog is saying about the growth of newspapers in – where else – India!

Yes, and that’s about it for now. Ciao.

All Hail the Tag!

I almost could not believe my eyes when I read this, but Penny Lane, girl, you rock! Just when I was beginning to doubt if more than two people ever read this blog, I have truly and honestly been given my first ever tag! OK so the deal is that I have to write 8 things about myself. I sort of did this (I wrote way more than 8 then!) in an earlier post a few months ago, but in the true spirit of tagging, I’ll do it afresh. (I’m SO excited!) So here goes:

1. I am extremely jet-lagged right now. I believe that the body can only take so much of time-zone-skipping at a time, and I think I’ve been pushing that more than I ought to in the last one year. But I’ve had a blast traveling – I just love traveling – and I guess I always will.
2. I am getting married four days before I turn 26, in a few months’ time. And I am way excited about that too (its increasing day by day), because I am going to FINALLY be with the one person I have ever wanted to, and in the bargain my parents are finally going to get their wish, and my grandparents too, and so everyone will be happy.
3. Really, REALLY, people, if you ever think of getting into a long-distance relationship then let me know because after close to five years of never being in the same city and STILL surviving mine, I think I’m something of a pro at it. No kidding!
4. I will probably never ever be reed-thin even though I desperately try to at least twice a year. I just love yummy food and have a weakness for desserts in particular. Even simple food like good ol’ curd-rice and pickle can make me sigh with happiness (especially if its polished off after a good night of partying)
5. Drinking is never fun without friends. On the same note, drinking can be quite uncomfortable with relatives. Ha-ha. Make sure you distinguish between the two. If a relative IS a friend or vice-versa, then that is one hell of a lucky situation. How does this piece of advice relate to me? Because I have drunk without friends so many times I know that the ‘it’ factor is always missing from those experiences. And I have also had a couple of very uncomfortable drinks with relatives.
6. I used to wear glasses with ugly plastic pink frames in classes 4 and 5. And then I wore slightly better looking pink metal frames in classes 6 and 7. And now I hate the colour pink. Period. Most shades of it, anyway. I do wear cool-looking blue frames now though, when I don’t wear my contact lens that is. I think that I think they’re cool now because V thinks I look nice in them. So I guess beauty in this case lies in the eyes of the beholder!
7. I did well in school and college without really having to try too hard, and teachers liked me big time. The funny thing is all that used to matter to me then, but now I couldn’t care less. Sometimes I think I’m angry at them for not giving me REAL education. I don’t remember shit of what I learnt between classes 8 to 12, for example. And I got State ranks!
8. I am a very moody person. I make no apologies about it, because to be honest, I don’t NEED to be liked by everyone, and I don’t like everyone either. It’s a bit impossible. If you liked everyone you ever met, there would be something wrong with you, if you ask me. I used to try and be one of those. They’re all wrong, because they’re trying too hard. (Can you believe someone once said that about me? In college. That I ‘tried too hard’. I used to think that was one of the most cruel things I heard about myself then. It was probably true. Its not anymore).

Penny, you’ve disabled comments but in case you’re reading this…happy belated birthday and may your house be full of all the furniture you ever wanted by your next birthday! (That includes the hep plasma TV and all that stuff that (ahem!) only homeowners really invest in!) And SublimePattern, Skepsi, Sharad, The Smugbug, Vikram and the Desi Bridget Jones Diary, I hereby tag you all!